Metering means utilized with continuous flow valves for use with insoluble propellant



L. T. WARD USE WITH INSOLUBLE PROPELLANT INVENTOR TWOrd ATTORNEYS Lawrence fi k. 2%

April 19, 1966 METERING MEANS UTILIZED WITH CONTINUOUS FLOW VALVES FOR Original Filed Sept. 27, 1961 United States Patent 3,246,809 METERING MEANS UTILHZED WITH {IGNTINU- ()USFLOW VALVES FOR USE WITHINSOLUBLE PROPELLANT Lawrence. T. Ward, Portland, Pa.,.assignor to Seary Limited, Zug, Switzerland Originalapplication Sept. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 141,077, now Patent No. 3,133,301, dated June 23, 1964. Divided and this application Apr. 21', 1964, Ser. No. 361,382 3 Claims. (Cl. 222-394) This invention relates to a metering means bywhich a conventional continuous flow valve used with; pressurized. containers having an insoluble propellant may be quickly and economically converted to a. metering dispensing valve. This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 141,077, now US. Patent No. 3,138,301, filed September 27,1961 which, in turn, is a continuation-in-pa-rt of application Serial No.

115,776, filed June 8, 1961, now abandoned.

Metering valve assemblies have heretofore, been used with aerosol type containers wherein the propellant is soluble in the goods to be propelled or ejected from the container. Containers filled with goods, such as deodorant, perfume, etc., have used Freon as a propellant or other derivatives of fluorine which are readily soluble in the goods to' be ejected. and which are ejected along with the goodsv in order to aerate them. Freon or other fluorine derivative propellants, however, are often unsuitable for use with many goods, such as food products, medicinal products, or in instances where fluorine may be toxic to the user. Another propellant used has been carbon dioxide which, while not toxic, oftenreacts with food pr'oductsto vary their taste. It is desirable, therefore, that a relatively inert propellant be used which, is not. toxic and which will not react with the goods to be ejected from the container. Such an inert propellant which. is adaptable for use in pressurized containers is nitrogen which will not. react with the product. to be propelled. This propellant isfor. the most part relatively insoluble in the goods to be ejected from the container and is used essentially as a pressure source to push the goods from the container up through a syphon tube into a discharge valve.

It is often desirable that'a predetermined amount of goods be ejected, from a pressuriz'ed'container upon each application of the discharge valve.- This is particularly true wherein the goods are to be mixed with a liquid in order to make a flavored beverage of constant strength or, where medicinal products are used and uniform dosage isdesired. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide for a metered butt-on valve assembly which may be used to accurately meter goods ejected from a pressurized container having a relatively non-soluble gaseous propellant.

A desirable feature of metered valve assemblies is that the assembly itself be made of a minimum number of parts and wherein the parts will require a minimum of machining in order to reduce expense of manufacture. I propose to provide for a metering button cap which has a minimum of parts most of which may be easily molded on an injection molding machine. Further I propose to provide for a button cap which may be applied to conventional continuous flow valves to convert them into metered valve assemblies. By making a metering button cap according to my novel design, the cap itself may be used over and over again merely by taking the cap olf the discharge valve of an empty container and applying it to the discharge valve of a filled container.

Still another feature which is important in the manufacture of metered valve assemblies is that the assembly itself not interfere with filling of the container. A metering button cap constructed according to my invention is ice applied to a. conventional continuous flow valve to convert it to a metered valve assembly after the container has been. filled through the discharge valve and thus. the metering button cap itself does not interfere with filling.

A meter-ing button cap constructed according tov one form of my invention is adapted to be used with a conventional continuous flow valve having a hollow depressible operable valve stem which is resiliently biased outwardly from a valve housing. The valve housing is carried in a neck portion of a pressurized container having an. aperture through which. the depressible stem may be moved. The depressible stem sealingly engages the sidesof the aperture and has therein an opening which is normally sealed off by the sides of the aperture and which will be open when the valve stem is depressed to connect the interior of the container with the interior of the hollow valve stem.

The novel button capassembly, which is applied to the end of the valve stem, comprises generally a body portion having a stem receiving portion for sealingly engaging the outer end of a conventional continuous flow valve having a depressible hollow valve stem. The body portion has a discharge passage leading to atmosphere and which, in turn, connects with av first passage in pressure communication with the interior of the hollow valve stem. An expansible resilient sac surrounds the stem receiving portion and is in pressure communication with the first passage through means of a, second passage extending through the side of the stem, receiving portion. Valve means are positioned between the first passage and the discharge passage which is operable when the valve stem is depressed to close off the discharge passage from the first passage and interior of the sac. As the valve stem is depressed, goods under pressure of the insoluble propellant will flow into the hollow valve stem, first passage and on into the sac which will'ex-pand under pressure of the goods. When the actuation pressure depressing the hollow valve stem is removed, the stem will rise thus sealing off its. interiorfrom the interior of the container while at the same time the valve means between the first and discharge passage will open allowing goods within thesac to-be expelled through thedischargepassage under force of. the sac contracting due to its resiliency.

Referring tothe drawings in which preferred embodiments of my invention are illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a button cap constructed according to my invention shown applied. to a conventional hollow stem continuous flow dispensing valve and after an operating force has been applied to the button cap to allow goods to be forced from the pressurized container into the button cap;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of a different embodiment of button cap; and,

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of a still further embodiment of'button cap.

Referring to the drawings. in greater detail, and in particular to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a button cap comprising a body portion 141 which has a stem engaging portion 142 which in turn is adapted to contact a depressible valve stem 6 of a conventional discharge valve. The stem 6 is hollow and is biased outwardly of the container in which it is mounted by a spring 7. A port 8 in the side Wall of the stem is adapted to be closed oh by the seal 9 when no operating :force is applied to depress the stern. When the stem is depressed, the port 8 will move below the seal so as to allow goods within the container to be forced through the port into the interior of the stem.

The portion 142 has surrounding it a molded rubber expansible sac 142' which engages with the stem of th discharge valve to form a seal therewith and which is held to the body portion 141 by means of shoulders 143. The portion 142 has therein an axially extending first passage aaaasoe 144 and a late-rally extending second passage 145 which connects with the interior of the rubber sac. The upper part of the button cap comprises a resilient flexible diaphragm 146 which has thereon a valve portion 147 which in turn seats with the valve seat 148 placed at one end of a discharge passage 149.

The device shown in FIG. 1 operates as follows. Upon the depression by finger pressure of the button cap, the valve portion 147 is seated with valve seat 148 to first close 011 the discharge passage 149. Further application of finger pressure will depress the valve stem 6 to open port 8 and allow the goods to be forced into the passage 144 and passage 145 under the force of an insoluble propellant in the container to cause the rubber sac to expand. Release of finger pressure will allow the valve stem 6 to rise under the force of spring 7 to seal port 8 and thus shut off the flow of goods into the button cap. At the same time, the diaphragm 146 will cause the valve 147 to unseat from the valve seat 148. The elasticity of the rubber sac will then force the goods contained therein out through the passages 144 and 149.

FIG. 2 illustrates a construction generally similar to that shown in FIG. 1 with the exception that it only comprises two pieces. There the button cap 150 comprises a body portion 151 and a lower flexible shoulder portion 152. The body portion has a stem receiving section 153 which is adapted to engage with the stern of a conventional discharge valve. The upper part of the body portion 151 comprises a sac receiving section 155 about which is placed an expansible rubber sac155'. The section 155 has therein two vertically extending passages 156 and 157 which serve as intake and discharge passages respectively. The lower part of the rubber sac has a beaded section 158 which is held to the body portion 151 by means of a turned over portion 159 while the upper portion of the sac comprises a flexible diaphragm 160 which engages with the inner part of passage 157 to serve as a valve therefor. A horizontally extending passage 156' connects with passage 156 and with the inner part of the rubber sac so that when the button cap is depressed by finger pressure, goods will flow therethrough to cause the rubber sac to expand.

The operation of the valve shown in FIG. 2 is such that when finger pressure is initially applied to the diaphragm 160, it will cause the passage 157 to be closed. Further depression of the cap will move the whole cap body downward since the lower portion is flexible to allow depression of the valve stem associated with a conventional discharge valve. The goods will then flow into the passage 156 and passage 156 expanding the rubber sac. Withdrawal of finger pressure Will allow the cap and stem 6 to move upwardly while at the same time resiliency of the diaphragm will open the inner end of the passage 157 thus allow ing goods to be forced out thereof 'u-nder'theforce of the resilient rubber sac.

The button cap construction illustrated in FIG. 3 is generally similar to that shown in FIG. 1 with the exception that a protective cover 171 is provided in order to protect the molded rubber sac. In addition, the body portion 172 of the button cap differs from that shown in FIG. 2 in that an annular ring 173 is provided in which the protective cover 171 may slide and be guided. In essentially all other respects the structure of the cap assembly there shown is similar to that in FIG. 2 and the principal operation is the same.

1. A metering button cap for use with a hollow depressible valve stem of a discharge valve mounted on a pressurized container, said button ca'p comprising a body portion having a stem receiving portion adapted to engage said hollow stem, a discharge pass-age, a first passage in said stern receiving portion adapted to communicate with the interior of said hollow stem, valve means separating said first passage and said discharge passage, an expansible resilient sac surrounding said stem receiving portion, and a second passage in said stem receiving portion connecting said first passage with the interior of said sac.

2. A metering button cap for use with a discharge valve having a hollow depressible valve stem adapted to be mounted on a pressurized container comprising; a body portion having a lower flexible shoulder for engaging the top of a pressurized container, a middle stem engaging portion and an upper sac carrying portion; an expansible resilient sac sealingly surrounding said sac carrying portion; a first passage extending through said sac carrying portion and adapted to communicate with the interior of said hollow stern; a second passage connecting the interior of said sac with said first passage; a discharge passage extending through said body portion to communicate with said first passage; and a diaphragm portion of said sac serving as a valve means to seal off said discharge passage from said first passage when said body portion and said stern are depressed.

3. A mete-ring button cap according to claim 2 having in addition protective cover means engaging said diaphragm portion and surrounding said sac.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1960 Micallef 22295 9/1963 Beard 222-335 X 

1. A METERING BUTTON CAP FOR USE WITH A HOLLOW DEPRESSIBLE VALVE STEM OF A DISCHARGE VALVE MOUNTED ON A PRESSURIZED CONTAINER, SAID BUTTON CAP COMPRISING A BODY PORTION HAVING A STEM RECEIVING PORTION ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID HOLLOW STEM, A DISCHARGE PASSAGE, A FIRST PASSAGE IN SAID STEM RECEIVING PORTION ADAPTED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE INTERIOR OF SAID HOLLOW STEM, VALVE MEANS SEPARATING SAID FIRST PASSAGE AND SAID DISCHARGE PASSAGE, AN EXPANSIBLE RESILIENT SAC SURROUNDING SAID STEM RECEIVING PORTION, AND A 